Liberal Arts Services

Virtual Reality Systems

Perceptual systems have evolved to support performance in natural tasks. Thus, if we are to understand perceptual and motor systems, it is crucial to be able to precisely control stimuli and measure performance in natural tasks. The Virtual Reality laboratory at the University of Texas provides a unique resource for investigating natural visually guided behavior. It combines state-of-the-art body position monitoring, eye position monitoring, and visual virtual environments. One laboratory houses a HiBall high precision head tracking system, used in virtual environments involving walking, a Sensable Technologies Phantom Force Feedback system with a large workspace, for two fingered grasping and reaching experiments, several Polhemus Fastrack System for 6 degree-of-freedom head and hand tracking, and an Immersion Cyberglove hand posture sensor with vibrotactile stimulators for tactile feedback. Another laboratory houses a driving simulator mounted on a motion platform, and a PhaseSpace 3D body tracking system using 40 LED Markers and 16 Impulse Cameras. The virtual environments are displayed using three Virtual Research V8 Head Mounted Displays and two N-Vis wide field of view helmets with binocular eye tracking.